#173 - Sunday Group Ride

Obligatory shot of quarry

Original picture by Randy .... guess what is the title of this pic ....
hehehe 'Stolen Shot'

NoLights Louie busy with InstaGram while waiting for the rest

Brother Louie on the way to try his levitation technique

Resting at the summit

Dead motorcycle in Rooty Trail

I think the Eastern boys finally had their fill

of Pulau Ubin and Tampines Trail and so the

venue for today's group ride is Bukit Timah.

Yayyyyy !!!!

Everything was off to a good start as the peloton

assembled at Velocity in Novena just a little bit after

8AM. Breakfast was at 6th Avenue.

Everything went like clockwork. If this group ride

was a battle, I would have said there were no prisoners

taken and no quarters asked. Good thing there were

no newbies in the attendees.

Once the BT loop was cleared, everybody was

off to ZH Park and then to Rooty Trail.

At the exit of Rooty Trail there was talk of

having an early lunch but the leading uncles

said no to the walking wounded (AKA ElGuapo)

and that was that.

So we all went to up the summit via Gangsa and

went to the new trail on the right (instead of going

straight ahead) to get some experience of cornering

on natural berms.

At the first stream, NoLights Louie's patient,

ElGuapo, complained about hurting both left and

right shoulders as well as his spinal column (??!!!).

NL Louie showed her some stretching techniques

she learned in Electrical Eng'g and ElGuapo was

good to go.

Finally, a looonnggg lunch was had by all

at Sembawang Hill Hawker Centre.

After lunch, all of them went to YioChuKang

Road and I was left alone to cycle home :-(

Anyway, before I got home I took a picture of this

new bikeshop in Novena. This bikeshop is just

one block away from TEF. The shop's name is Elite

and they are selling ... no surprises here : Elite bikes.

#172 : Saturday Ride

My alarm clock went off at 6:30am today.

However, the resolve that I had last night of

doing a looonnnggg ride to and from Pulau Ubin

was badly eroded by what I saw out of my window.

It was still dark ... the spirit is willing but

the flesh is weak ... and so I told myself

'maybe another day' and went back to sleep

hehehehehe.

I woke up again at 8:30am and now I was feeling

up to the task of mountain biking. I didn't bother

sms-ing Roadie Rio and StairRider Deck since

I know they would have met earlier and might

be finished with their breakfast now and most

probably hitting the trails at Bukit Timah.

After wolfing down a proper breakfast of pasta

prepared by my long suffering wife (Hi Jen :-)  ), I went

and cycled to Rifle Range Road. I was thinking of

doing the BT loop but there's supposed to be a

group ride tomorrow and I thought I better

reserve some energy for that.

I skipped the BT loop, went up RRR and went to

ZH Park. Once there, I saw Lightning Lito schooling

some guys on trail bikes as to why a hardtail with

a capable rider is unbeatable in Sg trails :-)

I asked Lito if he's seen my friends and since the

answer is a negative, I gave SR Deck a call which

was unanswered and an sms detailing my route.

I went to the Personal Challenge, reverse Flowy Trail,

down Gangsa, up to the Summit, went right to the

'mango' trees and went to reverse Rooty trail.

After Rooty trail I went back to ZH Park and lo and behold!

I saw Roadie Rio cycling in circles without SR Deck!

Apparently, SR Deck has a sore throat and smsed

Roadie Rio that he can't come.

Roadie Rio and I completed what was left of the BT loop

and separated near the Visitor Centre carpark. He is

still supposed to do one more lap.

Anyway, for those going to the group ride tomorrow,

above is what you can expect of Rooty Trail. As

SR Deck describes it, it's just a flat trail with not too

many roots hehehehe.

Below this is a video I found in Vimeo of 2 guys

on XC bikes. Watch it for inspiration :-)

Introducing the 2012 Element Alloy 26 and 29 from Rocky Mountain Bicycles on Vimeo.

#171 : Tuesday Night Ride

Tuesday night and NoLights Louie surprised me

when she said 'Yes' when I asked her if she wants

to go to Mt. Faber with me and StairRider Deck.

I was thinking, that was quick? I normally have

to give a lengthy sermon about the virtues of climbing

before she says yes ...

... of course the main reason it was so easy asking

her to go was tonight was the night she was going to

pick up her new pride and joy from Hup Leong :

her new wheelset made up of Hope Pro2 Evo hubs

and ZTR Crest rims!

So, I told her that this new wheelset should be around

2 tons lighter that her last boat anchors ... errrr wheelset.

Not just that! This Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs should have no lag

when she pedals and all these points should translate

to better climbing performance.

To my chagrin, she said she can't feel if they are light...

and worst of all, she asked : 'What lag?'

Sighhhhh ....

Anyway, I lead NL Louie and SR Deck to a different

first lap. We went via Telok Blangah Rise instead of

going via West Coast Rd. This first climb should be a

lot steeper than our normal loop.

Well, either the wheelset indeed gave better climbing

performance or they are expensive placebos. NL Louie

was able to hang with us for 3 laps instead of her

customary 1 serious lap + 1 photo session lap.

Apart from the new wheelset, NL Louie was also

wearing a new helmet which is supposed to be women

specific. ... I still don't know what the difference

is between smaller men's helmet and a women specific

helmet ... might be just pure marketing gimmick?

Ok, now that I have sowed the seeds of doubt in

NL Louie's mind about the practicality of buying

women specific helmet, she did tell me that

this helmet is a lot airier than her previous Limar

helmet.

The 2011 version of the Uvex Onyx Helmet also

has mesh on the front holes to prevent insects

from entering the helmet. Also, it has that all

important sticker proclaiming that this helmet

is 'Made in Germany'. All that for just 69USD at

Jenson's USA :-)

Finally, on our way home SR Deck and

I were interviewing NL Louie and here is

the non-verbatim (and artistic license applied) 

transcript of the interview :

SR Deck : What's the diff between the Hope Pro 2 and

Hope Pro 2 Evo? (PS. looks like Pro 2 has been

replaced by Pro2 Evo. But Hope website does not say

the difference between the two hubs)

NL Louie : hmmmm ... it's faster?

SR Deck : Why?

NL Louie : Uhhhmmm... i don't know ....

MH : I told you not to buy that! If you bought

XT hubs and any ZTR rims, you would still

have change to buy decent brakes.

NL Louie : Damn the price! I want my hubs to

have that buzzing sound and it should be red!

MH : Why?

NL Louie : Duhhh! It's red and it buzzes! It's faster!

MH : Have you seen any Pro XC Rider using

those loud, buzzing hubs?

NL Louie : They don't?

SR Deck and MH : sighhhhh

*all pictures used with permission from

NoLights Louie



#170 : Sunday Ride



didn't say  'oh shit' this time




said  'oh shit'





we saw these guys playing at the 2nd stream



No wonder there is less people in the Mandai/BT

area yesterday and today, StairRider Deck and Fast Paolo

told me there's a race at Kent Ridge today!

Anyway, it was made clear from the start that today's

ride, although longish, will be at a leisurely pace.

Due to that I elected to skip BT and wait for SR Deck

and Paolo at Zheng Hwa.

After a short wait at Zheng Hwa Park, the two came

and the first sentence uttered by SR Deck is '... I'm dizzy ...'

Hehehe it turned out that my decision to skip BT was

correct.

So we had a long rest (around 30 minutes) and

after that, the route taken was NoLights Louie's

Personal Challenge, Reverse Flowy Trail, went

down to the foot of Gangsa and climbed the

first summit, went to first stream, 2nd summit,

2nd stream, u-turned and went to reverse Rooty

Trail, whew!

Lunch was at Bukit Panjang and once that

was over, we all continued the remaining

1/3rd of BT loop and went to Esso to clean our

bikes... which proved difficult for Fast Paolo

as he is suffering cramps on his hamstring, hands,

calves... basically he seems to have cramps everywhere.

Of course, if you ride with us, you'll know that you won't

get any sympathy from us. You'll get jeers instead

like : '...and you want to go to Muar?' ,

'mountain biking huh?' , etc. LOL

Anyway, all's well and good. The bike cleaning session

gave us all some rest and nobody cramped on the

way home :-)

I wonder if our guys did well at Kent Ridge...



#169 : Saturday Ride

Go to the entrance of reverse Rooty Trail. Now look back. This is what you'll see.

Practicing my bokeh technique

Me with an arty-farty shot

Couldn't get a picture of the train tracks as there are too many people.
Got this shot of this pole instead. Btw, for all you budding photographers,
the railways will be open for the next 2 weeks. You might want to check out
this great photo op.

Ahhhhh... Saturday.... my first real trail ride after three

long weeks. But is it just me or the cyclists in the BT/Mandai

area are getting lesser? Just an observation. It's good for me

anyway. I won't be able to attain that level of Zen with lots

of other mountain bikers around.

Today I skipped the BT loop and went straight to ZH,

reverse Flowy (Sc) Trail, went to the 'mango' trees and

went reverse Rooty Trail.

I didn't bother going to Summit 1 and Summit 2 as I noticed

there are less riders today ... I'm afraid there might be more

park rangers around. I'll just do the looonnnggg loop tomorrow

with Stair Rider Deck and Fast Paolo.

#168 : Random Pics

Been trying to find that little bit of fitness

I had. Three weeks without exercise, inadequate sleep

and two weeks of bad (but delicious) food will definitely

take it's toll.

I tried biking and slowly build the intensity level

of each ride ... but looks like all I've been doing is

taking pictures whenever an opportunity presents itself :-)





#167 : Farewell to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

I was writing this on a rainy Thursday (30 June 2011).

.. and since it was raining I couldn't go out for my 'getting

to know Bukit Timah all over again' ride.

Nothing to do ... and so I went to Instagram to go and

'like' some of the nice pictures there from creative people

from all over the world... and then I saw one of the people

I am following that today is the last day that the Tanjong

Pagar Railway Station will be open.

Hmmm... the railway is at Tanjong Pagar.. and it should be

near Hup Leong in Chinatown. So! I took an umbrella,

headed over to Hup Leong, ogled at stuff I can't afford

and then walked to the railway station.

There's an online contest going on. Search for #sgigktm

in Instagram and the above photos are my entries...

But I don't know what the prize is ... I also don't know

how they determine the winner... Anyway, I don't care.

It was a good photo opportunity and I got to see a piece

of Singapore history.



Spyder Jett Helmet

Ok, another helmet review :-)

I got the Spyder Jett helmet from Ross' at Cartimar for

800PHP. At the current exchange rate of 34.90PHP = 1 SGD,

that makes this helmet SGD22.92 !

Keeping that price in mind, I didn't bother weighing

the helmet. Not that it is heavy. It's just that at this

price I don't think I should be expecting much from this

helmet except that it should do what it was designed to

do ... that is to protect your head.

Fit is very good. Unlike other cheaper models of other

'branded' helmets (e.g. Giro), this helmet comes in different

sizes. So you will be able to find a size to suit your head.

Fit adjustment is via a dial at the back of the head and

foam paddings are also provided.

The Jett comes in various colors (yellow, green and blue).

I only chose yellow so that my riding buddies would see me

if ever I crash inside the forest.

As for cooling, it is comparable to all other helmets that

I have ... this is subjective anyway.

So, those are the good points. For the bad : At this price? NONE!



I'm Back !



Not sure about the name but I think this is North Ave MRT... this
was shot during Signal no. 1 of typhoon Falcon



Pond @Greenbelt Mall

Eastwood Mall

Manila Bay sunset

@Mall of Asia, center should be Pacquiao,
the rest I can't remember, but there's a farmer there
and a nurse

I'm back ! It's been 3 weeks since I had a
decent ride. The 1st week was spent holding
that damned prod support phone and the last
2 weeks were spent in Manila ! :-)

My family and I stayed at the Dusit Thani Hotel

in Makati and although it cost us a pretty penny,

it turned out to be for the best. Typhoon Falcon

landed in Manila during the first few days of our

stay there. This, of course, triggered some flooding

around the area but since we were at posh (ahem)

Makati, we did not see any floods and we just had

to walk around the various malls which are open,

business as usual, even with this typhoon around.

Also, this last visit to Manila I went to lots of

shopping malls. There's Trinoma and SM North Edsa,

Greenhills, Mall of Asia, Landmark, Greenbelt, and

the Gloriettas (there are 5 of them now) ... and last

but definitely not the least... I went to Cartimar !!!!

There are really lots of biking stuff in Cartimar.

Those things that you won't see in SG? They're all

there! ... and the stuff are all priced competitively

as there are lots of bike shops around all within a

stones throw of each other. Most of the bike shops are

literally just next door of each other.

So, when you go there, you better have a list of things

that you really need because if not, you will end up

buying lots of things that you already have in the first

place. Case in point? I just got myself another helmet

hehehehe. Come on, in my defence, the helmet was just

800PHP. How can you go wrong? I even wanted to

buy Exustar shoes ... except that I have bad experience

with them so I didn't.

I also got a set of Camelbak cleaning brushes for ... cleaning

Camelbak bladders. I think this set of brushes cost around

40$ here in SG, but over there it only cost me 450PHP hehehehe.

Thanks to my wife for looking the other way whenever I buy

more bike stuff :-) But this biking thing keeps my BP low,

so it should be good right ;-)